re: Best USMNT Roster For Hexagonal(Posted by Sheep on 12/5/12 at 10:20 am to cwil177)

I love Heath Pearce as a player.

I assume he and Bradley had some falling out (which, from what I've read is not out of Heath's character), because even when out of form, he was a far better option than Bornstein.

I'll go so far as to say that when Pearce is "on" he's a better player than Fabian Johnson. Better defender, better crosser, more foot skill, accurate and powerful shot from distance. He's moody and inconsistent, though and that's held him back.

I know Fab is more than capable of playing at LM, but I just can't see any reason why Jurgen would do that.

LB has been a glaring deficiency on our roster for as long as I can remember. We finally get a high level LB, who may be one of our top 5 players over all, and we're talking about pushing him up to LM.

I see where you're coming from, but if it's me. I'd rather see some combination of LB - Fab and LM - Zusi/Dempsey, than LB - HP and LM - Fab.

re: Best USMNT Roster For Hexagonal(Posted by Sheep on 12/5/12 at 3:34 pm to thenry712)

I'd much rather play empty-bucket "Bob Ball" 4-4-2 with some combination of Fabian, Donovan or Zusi on the outside and Dempsey up top with whoever, than the impotent 4-3-3 we've tried to shoehorn in the last 18 months.

Chances are we wouldn't have sweated out first round qualification like that, either.

Besler is young and intelligent centerback, who just won MLS defender of the year. More importantly, he's quick and agile. Right now Goodson and Bocanegra are getting beat far too often, often against inferior competition, by speedy or crafty players. Goodson's clumsiness allowed the goal conceded in Antigua, and gave up a stupid penalty to Russia after losing his marker on a long ball.

Fabian Johnson should stay at left-back, regardless of our perceived weakness on the left flank. He provides more than enough width with his overlapping play. Right now there needs to be a competent midfielder who can link up with Johnson more than Jose Torres.